With the most highly anticipated IPO since Facebook coming next week, another company went public, and it’s blowing up. It sells boxes.
The trick to a hot IPO is a ton of media coverage for a company selling an innovative product beloved by young people, early-adapters, and journalists, right? Well, the last few years have proven that theory is not really true at all.
As Twitter readies its IPO, with its low-key, journalist-excluding presentations to investors and a relatively small amount of stock available to skeptical investors, another company went public and had something reminiscent of all the IPO-craziness Twitter so hopes to avoid: a huge first day.
The Texas-based Container Store, which is raising $225 million in order to pay a dividend to its private equity owner and to pay down some debt, went public on the New York Stock Exchange today. The stock was priced at $18 and opened trading at twice that and closed at $36.20.
The interest among investors and a huge opening day isn't unique to The Container Store — over the past year, there's been a flood of retail and food IPOs, and investors can't get enough. Two of the biggest first-day bumps have been restaurant chains that nary an investment banker or trendsetter would be seen at, Noodles & Company and Potbelly. Tech IPOs, however, can raise a huge amount of money, but have been hit or miss as far as investor excitement goes.
Potbelly — IPO price: $14; first-day close: $30.77; current price: $26.54
Keith Bedford / Reuters
Potbelly had its IPO just last month, on Oct. 4, and booked a huge gain for its early investors just as the stock opened at $28.79. The company sold 7.5 million shares to raise $105 million.
Noodles & Co. — IPO Price: $18; first-day close: $36.75; current price: $43.92
Yelp / Via Flickr: yelp
